Saturday, October 31, 2015

Happy Halloween! I knew this Butterick 5247 chain mail-like dress would come in handy some day. During the past few days, I was busy getting the kids' costumes ready for tonight. My daughter asked me this afternoon what costume I would be wearing. I hadn't thought about a costume for myself but she was really insisting that I 'make' one. I rummaged through my wardrobe and found this chain mail-like dress that I made last year. I wore it on top of a grey long sleeves t-shirt, a pair of self-made Polartec black pants, a thrifted belt and my knee high boots. I also made a cardboard sword with aluminum foil. I braided one side of my hair and voila! I'm a female warrior!

My daughter seemed genuinely impressed with this outfit that she said she wanted to be a female warrior tonight too! Sorry, there was just no time to make a new costume for her. But she said that next year she would definitely want to be a female warrior with a sword and a shield. We shall see. She changes her mind about her attire constantly. I wouldn't be surprised if she wanted to be something completely different a year from now!

Friday, October 30, 2015

I hadn't worn a long skirt in the last 2 days since there was howling wind and pouring rain (remnant of Hurricane Patricia). Although there were intermittent showers today, I thought the weather was well enough to finally wear my long skirt outfits. I chose this red wool gored skirt (Simplicity 5914) that I hadn't blogged about, and wore it with a casual black t-shirt, a rarely worn thrifted beaded cardigan and my rain boots (for the rain puddles):

(Unfortunately I didn't have time to take the photo until dusk today. The quality of the photo is drastically worse.)

I have thoroughly enjoyed this long skirt outfit challenge. It was great to trot out the long skirts that I rarely had a chance to wear. I feel that I have utilized my wardrobe better and the cost per wear for each clothing item is better than before. Here is a summary of my 7 day Long skirt outfits challenge:

Now what other self-challenges should I set next? Do you have any clothing self-challenges as well?

Monday, October 26, 2015

Today I brought out this dark green wool blend skirt (Simplicity 8850) that I made a while back but forgot to blog about it. I used the same pattern as the wool burgundy skirt that I wore earlier this week because I thought the skirt shape was suitable for my body shape. I used a medium wool coating fabric that I had used for my much-loved winter coat as well as my hubby's winter coat. I wore this skirt today with a wool blend teal cardigan, a self-made scarf, a black belt and black boots:

This is the first time I had worn this skirt out because I was waiting to get some inspirations to embellish this skirt. I think it looks okay without any embellishments but I'm still hoping to embellish it in the future.

Tomorrow is the 2nd last day of my Long skirt outfit challenge. Looking forward to it!

Sunday, October 25, 2015

Today I wore this houndstooth skirt (McCall's 4593) that I made a while back. Again, I think I wore it less than 5 times since I made it. How terrible! Anyway, it saw daylight today with my trusty refashioned denim shirt, self-made red scarf, thrifted belt and black boots:

I am enjoying giving my rarely worn skirts some daylight! There are more long skirts hidden in my closet ready to see the light of day for the rest of this challenge.

Day 2:
I chose this burgundy wool skirt (Simplicity 8850) that I made a few years ago. It was one of my favourite skirts but I hadn't worn it for a while. I'm happy to have worn this again with a thrifted blue plaid skirt, thrifted brown leather jacket and thrifted brown boots.

Day 3:
This time I worn a self-drafted a-line brown stretch velvet skirt that I made before the kids were born (a long time ago!!). I wore it often a few years ago but had neglected it in recent years. I wore this with a thrifted refashioned men's wool sweater, a thrifted purple scarf and thrifted leather boots.

(I guess I have to clean the camera lens again!)

I am happy with this challenge so far. I hope it doesn't start snowing before this challenge is finished!

On another note - I'm trying to remember to take my blog photos during the day in natural daylight. I think it shows the texture and the colours of the fabrics much better than indoor lighting. The problem is that I'm usually very busy during the day that I only remember to take the photo at the end of the day with poor lighting.

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Yes, I'm doing another self-challenge. This time I want to do a Long Skirt outfits challenge. I have a number of Fall/Winter long skirts that I don't wear much. The reason is a practical one: it snows here in winter and long skirts do not fare well in knee deep snow. Short skirts or dresses with warm leggings and knee high boots are much more practical in the winter for me. So the only suitable time to wear these Fall/Winter weight long skirts are in the Fall just before the snow starts falling.

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

I have had this square skirt in my head for a long time before I actually did it. As expected, it was quite easy and quite to make (even with the lining). However, the fringes took a while to do. All I did was to sew a tight zig-zag about 2cm away from the hem and the picked the cross-grain threads away along the hem to make the fringed hem. I used a 2 inch wide black elastic band as the waist band instead of a set in waistband. It's very comfortable to wear except all that fabric makes the gathered waist quite bulky. The only way to wear this skirt without it looking too bulky is to wear a thick black belt with a black cardigan on top.

When I unveiled the skirt to my hubby, he laughed and asked if I was going to a Braveheart cosplay! Hahahaha! I don't care. I am happy that I 'busted' a big piece of fabric stash for this project. I will wear it out tomorrow and see if people will look at me in a funny way.

I think I should clean the camera lens. It's so blurry!

So what do you think? Is it too Braveheart/costumy? Or is it too late-90's looking?

Monday, October 19, 2015

This is the last day of this self-challenge. It was really cold this morning with frost on the ground. I chose this self-stitched antique gold brocade gored skirt for today. It's a skirt that I wore quite frequently a few years ago but has since been much neglected:

So that's it for my 7 day self-challenge. Here is a summary of the outfits:

I am quite happy to have gone through this challenge. Some of my never-worn or rarely worn clothes have finally seen daylight! The outfits in general were a bit more dressy than I usually would have worn but not overtly so. I'm going to have to remember to wear these slightly 'glam' pieces out once in a while.

Okay! What other self-challenge should I try next? Do you set yourself some outfit challenges as well?

Sunday, October 18, 2015

I have a few faux fur clothing items and I wear some of them quite often during Fall/Winter. However, this faux fur bolero jacket that I made had never been worn by me (I think my mom wore it once to someone's wedding). It looks like it's meant for special occasion (especially with the rhinestone button) but that occasion hasn't happened for me yet:

It's a beautifully soft fur and it's quite warm. So I decided to wear it today with a thrifted refashioned men's wool sweater, a self-stitched pair of charcoal jeggings and thrifted ankle boots:

I think it looks okay. I'm just happy to have finally worn something glam that I made after it had been sitting in the wardrobe for so long!

Saturday, October 17, 2015

For today I chose this wool lurex sweater skirt that I thrifted a few years ago. I think I wore it twice which again is a crime! ;-) The lurex instantly says festive and the high wool content and sweater knit makes it warm and comfy to wear.

So I added a thrifted and refashioned merino wool tunic, a thrifted casual belt and brown boots for daytime wear:

I think this will be good for my Christmas roadtrip this year. It's 'casually-glam'. I will have to remember to pack this outfit. Let's see what outfit I'll come up with for tomorrow!

I added a denim shirt, a thrifted skinny belt and brown boots for this daytime look:

I'm glad to have trotted this old dress out again! It's actually not too difficult to wear these more dressy garments during the day. I just have to put a little more thought into the outfit. Looking forward to tomorrow's outfit!

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

I think I have worn it less than 5 times in the last year. Why? I thought it was too dressy for everyday wear. Well, I don't care anymore! ;-) I wore it today with a dark denim jacket, a thrifted grey t-shirt, and thrifted black ankle boots. I think it definitely doesn't look as dressy anymore. In fact, it just looks like a regular pair of white jeans:

Monday, October 12, 2015

I have been making garments and accessories with my existing fabric stash for quite a few years now. However, the stash just doesn't look like it's getting significantly smaller. Yes! I have a monster fabric stash!

I have been wanting to make a self-drafted square skirt (a.k.a handkerchief hem skirt) for a while. The idea just has been in my mind for a very long time. I think I'm actually going to do it this month. This is a brief sketch of it:

I have chosen to use this red/black plaid wool blend tweed fabric in my stash. I have previously used it to make a big scarf and a hat (see here).

I plan to make it with an elastic waist. It should be a relatively easy to make skirt. I hope it will turn out well enough for me to wear this Fall/Winter season!

Friday, October 9, 2015

I had so much fun with the last self-challenge that I decided to start another self-challenge to 'explore' the rarely visited parts of my wardrobe.

I have lots of glitzy, shiny, glittery, sparkly, self-made clothes, self-refashioned clothes or thrifted clothes that I rarely wear. There just never seemed to be any occasions to wear them. I'm never invited to any weddings, engagement parties, New year's Eve party, etc. So I want to challenge myself in wearing these 'fancy' clothes for daytime. My objective is to wear these clothes in a casual, everyday way.

I'll be starting this 7 day challenge tomorrow. Hopefully it will be more fun than a headache!

This was quite an easy outfit to put together. The cardigan itself was a great find at the local thrift store last year. It's comfy to wear and looks a bit dressy. It goes with everything. One could go to the office with this outfit!

Thursday, October 1, 2015

This morning the temperature dropped below 10 Celsius. Really? The day before, it was still hot enough to wear a short sleeves shirt! My kids had their winter coats on this morning. My daughter was fighting me about it but as soon as we left the house, she begged to put the coat on.

I have been busy making plans for my Autumn 2015 wardrobe. There are so many things I want to make and wear with my current stash of fabrics and patterns. However, I thought I would set up a Self-Challenge for the next 5 days until I have finalized what I will be sewing.

The Self-Challenge is to wear summer dresses in cooler temperatures. I will be layering my summer dresses for the next 5 days in my 'desperate final attempt' to hang on to summer! LOL! I think it will be a fun challenge. I will be posting the pictures as the week goes by.